Career Preparation for PhD Students

A range of resources are available for PhD students at Boston University looking to prepare themselves for future careers. Listed below are opportunities for current doctoral students to build their skills in a variety of areas via workshops and experiential learning, as well as support services available at BU in career planning, networking, and application processes.

BU’s BEST Program

The Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) program offers an array of career-preparation programming for PhD students across both campuses in the biomedical sciences, to help students explore the full range of careers available to those trained with a PhD, including those beyond conventional academic tenure-track faculty positions. Additional details are available on the BU BEST website.

Career Plans

Research links career plans to higher productivity, satisfaction, and success.  Individual Development Plans (IDPs) provide roadmap for your professional development. The IDP process will prompt you to reflect on your skills and your career aspirations and help you translate those into specific actions and achieve new skills and professional goals.

If you are in the humanities or social sciences, you will likely want to explore Imagine PhD. This program enables students to consider their career-related skills, interests and values and to explore possible career paths. It helps students map a path forward.

If you are in a STEM field, have a look at MyIDP. This is a program developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science that helps PhD students examine their skills, interests, and values and provides exercises for goal setting and career path exploration.

PhD Internship Opportunities

The Office of the Associate Provost for Graduate Affairs, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GRS), and the BU Center for the Humanities offer summer stipend support for six humanities PhD students and five social science PhD students annually. Interns undertake substantive research and writing in Boston-area cultural, governmental, and other organizations, with the aim of exposing PhD students to possible career opportunities outside of higher education. Additional internship or experiential learning opportunities are available through the BU URBAN Program (Urban Biogeoscience & Environmental Health), which is open to students in Biology, Earth & Environment, Environmental Health, and Statistics. The Activist Lab at the School of Public Health and the BU Initiative on Cities both offer experiential learning fellowships that are similar to other internship programs.

PhD Progression

PhD Progression is an online training program that offers individual modules (badges) to support your career and professional development over the course of your PhD and help you prepare for your post-PhD career. This program allows you to gain valuable professional skills in the 7 Core Capacities that will contribute to your career preparedness.

Professional Development & Postdoctoral Affairs Workshops

Professional Development and Postdoctoral Affairs (PDPA) offers a variety of workshops, panels, and other events to guide doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars across both campuses in their career planning and preparation. Learn more on the PDPA website.